The Yamaha T7 Tenere Concept Might Be Our Favorite Bike At EICMA

08/11/2016
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Whelp, I was pretty sure the Ducati Scrambler Desert Sled was going to win EICMA eve, but then Yamaha pulled the trump card (no, not that Trump) with this beautiful Rally concept called the T7 Tenere.

This is probably the time where I should admit that I'm pretty deep into trying to buy a dual sport and spend no less than two hours a week looking at rally fender kits, and that I might be a tad bit biased, but. BUT.

2017 Yamaha T7 Tenere Concept

LOOK AT HOW BEAUTIFUL IT IS.

Like most people, we've been hoping for a XT660 Tenere replacement for some time. This looks like it may destroy our dreams of the big thumper making a come back, but that doesn't mean that our hopes for a small sized adventure bike are gone.

If you hadn't yet surmised, this T7 concept is built around the 700cc parallel twin from the FZ-07, a tractable motor that could actually play nicely in the soft stuff. To that, they've added an aluminum tank, a carbon rally fairing and skid plate, a custom made Akropovic exhaust, and a trick looking quad-LED headlight.

Yamaha say they've been developing the bike in conjunction with their official rally team in France, their R&D team in Italy, and GK Design from the Netherlands. With an 18 inch rear tire, 21 inch front, and nicely spec'd KYB suspension, and that sort of development investment the T7 Tenere concept looks pretty ready for dirt duty.

2017 Yamaha T7 Tenere Concept

The Yamaha guys were in the office recently talking about some of their new dirt bikes, and I told them all I really wanted to know about was when I was going to get a plated WR450. This still isn't quite that, but it could run circles around the other adventures bikes at your next BDR.

Yamaha reiterates that this is just a concept, but the level of fit and finish (and the fact that they built a fully functioning concept and rode it on stage at EICMA) give me high hopes and expectations that we'll see this released for 2018. Because we deserve an adventure bike that makes 75 horepower, weighs under 400 pounds, and lets us pretend we're racing Dakar.

RALLY. ALL. THE. THINGS.